. hello and thank you for joining us. i'm jc hayward. president owe obama is heading to west virginia today to meet with a family that will feel the impact if the country goes over the fiscal cliff. groups are holding rallies on capitol hill demanding that congress and the. reach a deal. danielle nottingham has more. >> reporter: lawmakers are

getting an earful about why they need to avoid the so- called fiscal cliff. >> you've got to nail this down. uncertainty is killing us. >> reporter: top economists came to capitol hill thursday to talk about the impact of tax increases and government spending cuts on the middle class. president obama and house speaker john baner -- john boehner spoke wednesday but publicly are holding firm on their positions. it's made clear the country could go over the cliff if congress fails to come to a agreement. the standoff and the country's skyrocketing debt concerned ryan ryan, so much so that he's the guy in the suit dancing gangnam style with former senator alan simpson.

the can kicks back is working to get young people back to fixing the debt crisis. >> we're using humor to hook them in and get them to learn about this issue and understand how it affects their lives. >> reporter: the grass roots campaign wants to sign up more than two million people to put pressure on both sides. danielle nottingham, cbs news, washington. 9news now is talking to our local congressional members about the fiscal cliff. and tonight at 7:00 p.m., maryland senator ben cardin will join derek mcginty in our studio. last night virginia democrat jerry connolly stopped by and the 11th district representative stressed that there is room for compromise on his party's side. >> it ought to be open to negotiation what the income threshold s. the president has laid out -- is. the. has laid out 250. i think there's maneuverability there. i think it's too low. >> could it be 37, 38? >> i think he's signaled he's

willing to negotiate on that but the republicans have said so far no tax increases of any kind. >> you can keep up to date on our approach to the fiscal cliff any time. just go to our website wusa9.com. click on the fiscal cliff banner which is at the top of our home page. you'll find a countdown clock and a calculator to help you figure out the impact the fiscal cliff will have on you. u.s. senator jim demint has announced he's resigning. the republican from south carolina is leaving capitol hill to become president of the heritage foundation. he was first elected to the senate in 2004. south carolina governor nik haley will appoint a replacement. we're waiting to hear if the man charged in the august shooting at the family research council will take a plea deal. prosecutors told floyd lee corkins that he would have to plead guilty to three of ten counts in the federal indictment, including a charge of committing an act of

terrorism. corkins is accused of opening fire at the council in northwest washington. a man wounded in that shooting held down the gunman until police arrived. there will be a much different tone outside the white house. that's because the annual pageant of peace and the national christmas tree lighting festivities are about to get under way. delia goncalves has more on the festivities. >> reporter: more than 20,000 lucky lottery winners are expected to attend tonight's free celebration to officially kick off the holiday season. ♪ >> reporter: the stars are in d.c. to deck the halls. >> i heard the president and his family will be standing next to us. then i got a little nervous. but i think it will be fine. we'll see. >> reporter: but the real star of the show, the national christmas tree. >> one storm blew through. our last tree served our

country very well for 32 years. we have a great deal of confidence through the national park service that this tree will be here for many decades. >> reporter: this year's ceremony offers a whole new perspective with the white house has its backdrop good it is my great honor to introduce the family that came all the way here from right over there. >> reporter: the program hosted by cbs' own kneel patrick hair -- own neil patrick harris kicks off a month-long celebration on the ellipse featuring 56 trees for each state, territories and d.c., plus santa's workshop. after you stroll through santa's workshop, kids under 12 can come right here to this seat and take a picture with the big man himself free until christmas eve. >> this is a great opportunity to get folks to think a little bit about the time of the year -- a bit about safety. it's the time of the year that safety is important. >> reporter: if you're coming to the ellipse tonight, dress warmly.

leaved banned items at home. if you're not coming down, don't worry. we've got you covered. we'll carry it live beginning at 5:00. at the eliption, deal -- at the ellipse, deal deal, 9news. same-sex couples in washington state lined up for marriage licenses overnight. their governor signed the same- sex marriage into law one month after voters approved it. also at the stroke of midnight in washington state, it became legal to smoke marijuana. so hundreds gathered near the space needle in order to light up. while marijuana is still legal under washington state law, it is still illegal under federal law. england's princess kate has left the hospital where doctors were treating her for morning sickness. we have the latest. >> reporter: the duchess of cambridge smiled as she made her first public appearance since the royal family announced she is pregnant. she and her husband prince william left the london

hospital where kate spent three nights for severe morning sickness. if the duchess was still feeling the symptoms, she didn't show it. she told the press she was feeling much better. kate was bundled up to guard against the cold and to protect the royal bundle of joy. >> that's fantastic that they are going to have a baby. babies are life. >> reporter: kate is going to take it easy at the couple's london home. the duchess has canceled all of her public events for the weekend. >> she's been toasting with water and touching her tummy so we've been hopeful she was going to be pregnant soon. >> reporter: prince charles, the soon to be grandfather, said he's thrilled will and kate are having a baby. he called it marvelous and joked it's nice to become a grandfather at his old age. medical experts say kate's condition which causes vomiting and dehydration sometimes lasts the entire pregnancy. the duchess has at least six months to go after the royal

baby is born. cbs news, london. >> prince william is likely to get some time off from his royal air force job in order to care for his wife. still for come when 9news now -- still to come when 9news continues, safety tips that not only could save your holiday but could save your life.

this is the time of the year when we deck the halls, but you need to keep in mind that holiday decorations can go from delightful to dangerous in just seconds. new numbers from the consumer products safety commission point to a recent increase in injuries related to holiday decorations. the estimated number of incidents including fires have gone up from 12,000 in 2009 to 19,000 last holiday season. the cpsc estimates that christmas tree fires cost consumers as much as $19 mill in -- $19 million in property damage between 2008 and 2010. and the longest stretch between -- the longer stretch between thanksgiving and christmas this year means caution is needed. >> consumers are buying them earlier and earlier. that can cause problems. often people are having such a great time during the holidays that they forget to water the tree which can lead to a

terrible fire. >> in addition to keep be the tree stand filled with water, place the tree a safe distance from heat sources, like vents, radiators and fireplaces. lights with broken or cracked sockets, frayed wires or loose connections should not be used. >> the cpsc got a lesson of its own yesterday. an event showed the risks of having a menorah too close to curtains or letting a christmas tree dry out. but once the group set fire to the tree, it didn't completely get the fire out. the tree went into the dumpster. it caught fire again along with everything else in the dumpster. no one was injured but the building was evacuated for a short time as a precaution. coming up next, howard and his forecast. also, he has a guest. >> that's right. it's petline thursday. got a great little cocker spaniel we're going to introduce you to. look at the temperatures going to break. we were in the low 70s two days

ago. now we have temperatures in the upper 30s in places like gaitersburg. we have warmer readings in the seven-day forecast which i'll have for you after the break.

it has been called the most spectacular broadway style musical production in the mid- atlantic region. i am talking about evangel cathedral's 2012 christmas celebration. channel 9 is a sponsor w. me is one of the performers. i'm delighted to introduce her. how are you? >> i am well. how about yourself? >> i'm fine. you're excited about the production. >> super excited. it's legends that are on the the show and such great acting. i'm super nervous too. i get nervous every night. they tell me it's been happening for 22 years, two years younger than me so they've been on a roll.

>> there are live animals. the comes assumes are -- the costumes are fantastic. the production value is amazing. people come from all over to get tickets to this production. i to give everyone the phone number. the only way to get tickets is to call this number. 301-249-9400. let me tell you a little bit about kiki as she's known to her friends. she has a new cd called "free." why did you name that free? >> there's a song on the record entitled "free" and we believe where the spirit of the lord is there is liberty. the challenges that you may face, whether it's finances, health, or just mentally, there's a song on there, and it's basically just encouraging the listener or whomever to get in the presence of god and you can be free. >> so you want to get a copy of her cd by kierra sheard.

she didn't just happen to become a singer. her mother and aunt were members of the clark sisters, a famous group. you were sifnging at birth-- >> sipp -- singing at birth. >> kind of, sort of. it's just an exciting thing. my mother was also part of the evangel christmas production. she was just so supportive of me and excited. oh, our you're going to evangel. you're a big shot then. i'm just excited. i was just tweeting about it. thank you, lord, for allowing me to have this opportunity. you have mary mary on the show, marvin sapp, pastor morgan. you have living legends who are trailblazers and huge inspirations that have changed the game. >> get your tickets.

301-249-9400 at the evangel came thee dral christmas -- cathedral christmas celebration. it's fabulous. you'll want to take the whole family. now to howard with his forecast. it's really gotten cold. we had temperatures in the 70s to start the week. this afternoon we'll be lucky to be in the mid-40s, maybe 46. winds are light. we don't have a biting windchill and we'll have clear skies for the most part. even through the evening hours. as we get into the nighttime, that's when clouds are going to start to move in from west to east. still with the light southeasterly winds. i think the clouds will keep us from being cold in spots overnight. still upper 20s to mid-30s. we're clear now. you can see the clear skies with clouds off shore. but new clouds coming in from the west. that's what's going to be arriving here this evening. this morning we did clear out. it was dry, cold. 21 in frederick. 23 martinsburg. culpeper 25. we stopped at 35 at national airport and 37 on the bay. this hour a lot colder than 24 hours ago. about 15 degrees colder than it

was yesterday at lunch time with reagan national now coming in with temperatures at 41 degrees. we still have a few spots which are in the upper 30s. we saw that going to break. calm winds. while they're reporting mostly cloudy skies, those would be high thin clouds. there's a lot of sunshine now. the air has dried out but it's not going to last long. there's another storm coming through the great lakes. it has rain and wintry precip on the northern edge of that. if it comes across the country, it will switch our winds more southerly so it will get a little milder around here. also we have a threat for some showers. earlier i thought they would be tomorrow afternoon but knew guidance coming in, i just want to show you this on our fought cast with the -- futurecast shows the clouds increasing and by tomorrow morning we could be dealing with a few showrps. so this could impact the morning rush hour. by lunch time most of it is out of here. the threat of showers really moves into pennsylvania along and north of the mason-dixon line for tomorrow, tomorrow night, even into saturday morning we're looking at

potential showers north of us. sunshine saturday afternoon. so temperatures will be going up into the 50s tomorrow and 60s i think by saturday. 46 today. tonight we'll be about 35. maybe a few upper 20s north and west. could be an early shower tomorrow so that's changed from this morning. still i think we'll be milder. low, maybe mid-50s. but low to mid-60s saturday. that shower threat mainly north and west. by sunday we're looking at low 60s. still a shower threat. so the redskins and ravens game at fed ex field will be mild. you can also watch it right here on wusa at 1:00 sunday. a mild morning. chance of storms. turning cooler on tuesday and wednesday. it's petline thursday. this is angela robinson from the oldies but goodies cocker spaniel rescue. this is lulu celebrating the holidays. >> she's forward some snow. she has a little hat and scarf on here. >> she's beautiful now but when you got her, she was kind of a

mess. >> she was a stray. she came to us matted, filthy and with 40 ticks on her. she's tested negative for lyme disease which was a relief considering how many ticks were on her. >> i thought lyme disease just affected people. >> no. you get it from ticks. >> i know you get it from ticks. >> dogs get it too. she gives us all signs she's lifd in a house before. she's house -- lived in a house before. she's house broken. she plays with toys. she'll be at the springfield petsmart. if you go to cockerspanielrescue.com, you can go to the adoption events and fight out where we'll be. you can also have your pet taken with santa that day. >> we're running out of time. if people can't make it out there, how can they contact you? >> we have a joyce mail 7 on 3- 533-2373. and you can also get to our

website through petline 9. >> go to wusa9.com. go to petline if you missed any of that. the information will be right there. we're going to be right back with more on 9news now at noon in just a moment.

today i'm in the kitchen one on one with chef harper. he's at the federalist restaurant located in the madison hotel on 15th street northwest. i'm a meat eater so i'm loving this. angus steak he's doing. >> angus new york strip. >> excuse me. what are those vegetables? >> we're cooking some cauliflower, an heirloom variety of cauliflower. >> i've never seen that before.

>> a cool shade. >> this is one of your feature items at the restaurant. i've been there. great food. >> you're searing this angus. >> it's important to have a hot ban for this. you want to get nice carrization on the beef -- carmelization on the beef. i know it's smoking up your kitchen a little bit. >> that's okay. it smells good. >> the carmelization gives it that depth of flavor. >> guess what's in here? >> that's some butter and cream with a little potatoes holding it together. >> it smells good. are you going to turn that? >> i sure am. >> is it ready to turn? >> it sure is. >> let's see. >> let's see what kind of color we've got going on here. this is going to take about ten minutes to cook all the way around. i like to bring my beef to medium rare. i think you agree with me on that. >> the flavor. >> very important once it comes out of the pan, we'll let it

rest for about five minutes before we slice it that way the juices sort of redistribute themselves throughout the meat. you don't want it bleeding all over your plate. to finish the dish off, we have a red wine reduction basically. >> you're going to put that over the finished product? >> we'll put that over here. a new studio for me. >> i know. that looks rich. >> oh, yeah. >> and delicious. >> we make this with about ten gallons of stock and comes down to about two quarts. it's a very concentrated sauce. >> really? >> yes. >> very flavorful. that's going to be good. you just sauteed it. >> we sauteed it and we'll finish it in the oven. >> go to the federalist in the madison hotel. see the chef, chef mcclure. tell them i sent you. we're going to have a great lunch. i want to remind everybody to go to the evangel cathedral to the christmas celebration. the phone number is the only

way to get tickets. call 3301-249-9400. when i tell you it's a fabulous production, take my word for it and a great meal at the federalist restaurant. thanks for being here, chef. come back and visit us at 5:00. bye-bye.